First timer

[Stdyhand]

First time posting and I apologize for the wall of text but I like to be clear. My wife and I have a mobile home that is approximately 1200 sq/ft. It currently is heated by an electric furnace so you can guess why were wanting to install a wood stove. We are in southeast Missouri and normally have fairly mild winters but this last winter was long and bitterly cold and costed us far too much. The insulation is what you get with a mobile home, though I am working on adding insulation, new windows, etc. I can get wood fairly cheap and depending on my willingness to cut and split I could get it free. We do not have any codes to be concerned about. I already checked with the county and verified this first. However, safety followed by stove performance is most important. My wife and I work nights so the electric furnace will only be ran during this time and only to keep the temperature from dropping too low.

We have not began anything on this project. I want to run our plans by you all for opinions or concerns.

The stove will be located in the kitchen on the west wall. The hearth is still being planned but basically I had planned to put down one sheet of Durock on top of the plywood flooring, frame the hearth out of 2x4's, then add two layers of Durock and put tile on top.

The walls around the hearth are 2x4 thick and have rock wool insulation with 1/2 thick drywall with metal siding on the exterior. Most of the trailer has fiberglass insulation but due to our plans of having a wood stove in this location we added the rock wool since it is rated for a higher temperature. My plans were simply to add stone tile to the drywall.

The ceilings are vaulted but the lowest point around the stove is still over 7 feet so I don't expect to have any clearance issues.

We would like to avoid going through the ceiling with the chimney and instead planning to remove an old window that has not yet been replaced with double pane like some others. I am going to frame the old window and cap it off on both sides with sheet metal. I was planning to take double wall pipe up 12-24 inches from the stove, turn 90 degrees for about 12 inches (depends on stove recommendations) and switch to triple wall pipe at the thimble which will be mounted to the sheet metal. Outside I was going to use a triple wall tee followed by 6-8 feet of vertical chimney until it clears the peak of the roof by a couple feet.

As for the stove itself we are still undecided. I know it needs to be mobile home approved and use a make-up air kit to pull air in from outside. No matter what stove we use the rest will be the same. Space is an issue. We need a stove with MINIMAL clearance on the back. The stove needs to be wider than it is deep which is not as convenient for loading wood. I wanted a stove we could simply load the wood by sliding it straight in but most I've seen are far too deep for our location. The maximum depth we have is about 3 feet so that must include the depth of the stove and the clearance requirements.

If anyone can recommend a stove with a larger firebox that can still fit in a depth of 3 feet counting the required clearances I would appreciate it. It simply can't be more than 3 feet from the front of the stove to the rear wall. A stove that isn't outrageously priced would be preferable.

Again I apologize for the long post. If you came this far then perhaps you can make recommendations and/or bring some concerns to light that we might have missed. Thank you for your time.

 

[begreen]

Welcome to Hearth.com. Good to hear that you are carefully planning this in advance. For the hearth, no need to put the cement board down under the 2x4's at all. Instead put a sheet of plywood on top of the 2x4s for stiffness. What goes on top next will depend on the stove. There can be a very large difference in hearth insulation requirements. To keep it simple go for a stove that needs ember protection only. I would look at the Pacific Energy Super 27 for the simple hearth, but also because it will work on a relatively short flue which is typical in a mobile installation. Most stoves are going to want 15-16' of flue, but the PE stoves are a bit easier breathing and seem to work ok with a 12-15' straight up chimney. I don't recommend going up to a 90 then a tee and up with an outside chimney. You do not have enough height for good draft. That will lead to lousy stove performance.

The other important point is wood. Modern stoves need fully seasoned wood to burn well. Most wood available at this late day is poorly seasoned. Can you get hold of at least a couple cords of truly seasoned wood?

 

[Stdyhand]

Welcome to Hearth.com. Good to hear that you are carefully planning this in advance. For the hearth, no need to put the cement board down under the 2x4's at all. Instead put a sheet of plywood on top of the 2x4s for stiffness. What goes on top next will depend on the stove. There can be a very large difference in hearth insulation requirements. To keep it simple go for a stove that needs ember protection only. I would look at the Pacific Energy Super 27 for the simple hearth, but also because it will work on a relatively short flue which is typical in a mobile installation. Most stoves are going to want 15-16' of flue, but the PE stoves are a bit easier breathing and seem to work ok with a 12-15' straight up chimney. I don't recommend going up to a 90 then a tee and up with an outside chimney. You do not have enough height for good draft. That will lead to lousy stove performance.

The other important point is wood. Modern stoves need fully seasoned wood to burn well. Most wood available at this late day is poorly seasoned. Can you get hold of at least a couple cords of truly seasoned wood?

Getting seasoned wood is not an issue. I am fortunate enough to live right down the road from an older gentleman that cuts and splits firewood all year long for this small town and he always has buildings stacked with wood from the previous year or two. He is getting older but for now he is the go to guy for firewood.

As for the pipe what would you suggest? To avoid going through the ceiling I figured our only option was a 90 turn to run horizontally to the outside and then a Tee to turn 90 to take it vertical. We might be able to do a 45 from the stove to the wall but it is going to turn 90 anyway to get above the roof.

 

[Lake Girl]

What age is the trailer home and what style roof (rounded, flat, peaked)? Really hard to button up heat losses on trailer homes ... been there, tried that Absolutely no vapour barrier or house wrap from what I've seen on the vintage ones I've been acquainted with.

I'm thinking begreen is recommending a vertical chimney due to short run and better draft.

If you really want to vent that way (out & up), have you considered pellet stove? ... I know inexpensive wood!

 

[begreen]

Why avoid going through the ceiling? Each 90 deg turn is like subtracting 2-3 ft from the overall flue height. You'll need to add pipe outside to compensate for those turns. For example, one stove I helped install has 45s on the inside and 12' of chimney outside. In mild weather it spills smoke when the stove door is opened. It has to be below about 45F to behave better.

 

[Stdyhand]

The trailer is a 1990. It has a peaked roof/cathedral ceilings. I did look at pellet stoves and they just did not appeal to us. We each grew up in a home with a wood stove and the warmth they let off is far superior and best of all their quiet and work during a power outage which happened to us once already after an ice storm. We rarely get snow, it's always sleet/ice.

We were hoping to go out the side simply to avoid putting a hole in the roof. I am planning to have a new steel roof put on in the future but were not at that point yet. I realize going through the roof would likely be cheaper in the long run since less of the triple wall pipe is needed but we were willing to pay more to go out the side so long as the stove would still function properly.

 

[begreen]

Going through the roof is going to give you a much better performing installation unless you are willing to have about 12 ft of chimney outdoors. If you are, it will require good bracing for that height.